Hi there wise women - hope you can help me with a query that I'm a bit stuck with so would appreciate info!!

Jay is now 11 months, and has all his daytime drinks out of a beaker - which he likes to hold himself.

I've read that he should now have his morning milk out of a beaker, and then a bit later on his bedtime milk out of a beaker - the thing is he's having none of it. I've tried to offer a beaker in the mornings but he cries until I give him the milk in his bottle. I've tried hiding the bottle, but he just refuses the beaker.

I tried for a few days then gave up so he's now back on his morning and evening bottles.

He eats absolutely stacks, so probably doesn't NEED the milk, but he won't go onto beakers.

nice to see you posting, I can't help to be honest because Alex doesn't really drink milk. He only drinks water which does stress me out. I am sure someone should be able to help you on here. Give Jay a hug from me.

Maya stopped with a bottle at around 17m and of her own volition. She too drank from a sippy cup some of the time but preferred her night time drink from a bottle. One day she just stopped having a big drink before going to bed.

It's been said before but they like to do things in their own sweet time. It sounds as if Jay is well on his way to drinking from a cup, it might take a little while but what's the harm in letting him decide? who's to say the book is right? it's not like a milestone that will hold him back if he doesn't reach it by a certain age.

Somethings I'm concerned about but others, like bottles and dummies, don't bother me.

I wouldn't worry - well, I didn't! Daniel and Charlotte still had a bottle in the morning and evening for milk until they were about 2. And when we finally insisted that they drink milk from a cup, they stopped drinking it altogether so I think it was better that they were having a bottle than not having milk. As Debra says, there are more important things to worry about. (And my advice is that if your Health Visitor asks if he's drinking from a beaker, you lie - it worked for us! )

Jules

TTC 5 years. Daniel & Charlotte born 22.03.02, 1st ICSI treatment. TTC for 4 further years. 2nd ICSI cycle abandoned, 3rd cycle BFN. Looking forward to being a happy family of 4.

we werent blessed with our babies to raise here but we our blessed with our grandaughterand all of our many adopted and foster children that touch our livesand i am glad to add that our 6th grandchild will be born this spring!!!!

Thanks girls - you are so right! My little boy is so precious I can't bear to upset him over silly things like that, just because some interfering old cow says I should. I think it would be different if he was cutting back on his food and wanting to take more milk, but I think he just loves his morning and evening bottles - they must comfort him and be part of his routine. Plus Jules, I hadn't thought about that - he seems to love his milk this way, so I don't want to put him off it so I won't rock the boat and will take the lead from Jay on this one.

Shell - Alex going off milk must worry you - but I've heard that a lot of babies do this as they can get enough calcium from their diet as long as they get lots of dairy. The worrying never does stop does it! remember on the 2ww when we thought that was the most panicky we would ever be!! ha ha ha - how naive we were. !!

Thanks for your reassurance girls - I feel a lot better now and will carry on with the sterilising!!

It does worry me reference Alex not drinking milk but to be honest he has been like it for a while so I don't worry so much now. When I spoke to the HV she said to me that I can't force him to drink it. I have also tried him with full fat milk but that doesn't make any difference either, and also a beaker and that doesn't help so now I am down to the fact that he just doesn't like milk?

How come your posting today, ain't you usually off on a Friday?

Becky - I am back also and I have been offline for a while because of my PC but I am back. I do have to have a new tower though because my PC is no good, staying online for a length of time gives me an headache because of all the colours being funny and loads of dots all over my screen.

Anyway Alex just woke up, so I am going to go and try him with some soup now.

Shell, does Alex have lots of other dairy products to make up for the missing milk? I don't know how many yoghurts he'd need but I guess a couple a day along with cheese would help. Not sure what kinds of food you eat but tofu is cheap and a fantastic source of calcium. If you buy the soft kind it makes scrambled 'eggs' and milk shakes...actually, that's a thought...would Alex drink banana milk shakes if you made them in the blender? Maya went through a no-drinking-anything phase and it played havoc with her tummy, no poops etc. I started giving her a low fat (0.7%) chocolate milk which she enjoyed, I then diluted it 50:50 with skimmed milk so really didn't stress about it not being pure milk.

you all have great instinks so go with what you feel and tell everyone to shut up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you are all great moms.
shell i am so sorry to hear about your computer.
how are things going at home?

becky

we werent blessed with our babies to raise here but we our blessed with our grandaughterand all of our many adopted and foster children that touch our livesand i am glad to add that our 6th grandchild will be born this spring!!!!

Sally, don't worry about it and let Jay decide. All this do this and that and certain times is nonsense - how boring if all babies were the same I say!

Sam is also 11 months (minus 7 weeks as he was prem) and he's still on the bottle. He gets 80mls or so in the morning for a drink before his weetabix, a bottle before bed when he takes between 120-200mls depending on how knackered he is, but also a bottle at about 3.30 in the afternoon as a wee drink - I remember my HV saying he should not relly be getting the afternoon feed, but I decided, sod it, he likes it!! I only kpt him on it as he wasn't taking 'enough' milk, but lets face it, some babies (Alex - Shell LOL) don't want milk, so I've stopped worrying about it.

I try giving Sam cheese to make up, but he's still not that interested in finger foods, so just plays with it. Am I the only one with a non-snacking baby????? LOL Any biscuits I give him, he'll eat, then get stuck in his throat, then vomit up - NICE, but the joys...

I tried him today though on a beaker thing with water, and he took it, so maybe I'll try and wean him off teats...

I know what you mean about the finger food - Jay gets very theatrical about it! He shudders when I offer chunks of banana, chopped grapes or sticks of apple (needless to say won't eat fruit on its own), won't eat bits of cheese - nightmare! My HV advised giving Rich Tea biscuit fingers because they dissolve very quickly so he loves them, and I put cream cheese on them so he likes a sort of sandwich! He has now progressed onto eating baby bread sticks adn toast fingers, and he will eat softly cooked veg like carrots, peas and beans if they are put on his tray.

Jay has 150 - 180mls milk in his bottle first thing, then weetabix or ready brek with cow's milk and fruit puree, (at nursery he also gets toast at 9.30am!), then at lunch he eats stacks (loves home made lamb casserole, curry, chili etc - anything meaty!!) then a pudding out of a jar, then at 3pm he has a snack which is usually a yoghurt, crackers and cheese and fruit (which is ignored!). Then he has a big tea and pud at 5.30 then at night he has 150 - 180 mls milk at 6.45 ish.

I just stopped offering milk in the day as he refused his 2.30 bottle so just went onto baby fruit juice/water in a beaker which he is very good at holding.

I think if you just keep offering things like different finger foods Sam will gradually give things a try and learn to deal with them without choking (will let you know in a few weeks if this has worked - see above re fruit refusal adn shuddering in horror!!), but try things that melt easily first or give a yoghurt as well. Just seen your other post re Sam not crawling - Jay is 1 on the 27th Jan (he was 2 weeks early), and he only started crawling on Boxing day - he did the shuffly jumpy cross legged thing, then just launched himself into a crawl - so Sam might do it yet!

Shell - am off on a Monday so in work on fridays - how are you finding being back at work? How's alex coping??

Alex seems to be getting a bit better in himself because he has not been well for a couple of days.

I may be offline for a couple of days because I have got to have anew tower for my PC mine is not working properly.

Becky - Things ain't too bad at home now thanks for asking, how are you?

Zoe - Your not the only one with Sam with finger foods if I give Alex anything he just squashes it in his fingers. How is work? Have you had Sam weighed?

Sally - Work and Alex are not going to bad thanks but considering I only do 3 days a week I find it quite easy. It is nice to have some adult time and Alex is great with my Mom & Dad. Seems like Jay is doing ever so well with his foods, whats his weight now?

Hi Girls - not been around for a short while just SOOOOOO busy at work!! Gross.

Isnt it great to hear what everyone else is doing, what everone else is feeding their babies, etc? There is no right or wrong.

Alice is 9 and half months and still has two eight oz bottles per day. One they give to her at nursery and one she has at bedtime and drinks usually most of it, often falling asleep. The HV said she needs a bottle until at least one year, although I plan to allow her a bedtime one for longer - she will drink happily from a beaker but I think they get more milk inside them from a bottle. The HV is only giving her advice so I dont think any of us should worry - all children are different. Other than milk she drinks water from a beaker all day, occasionally a bit of very diluted fruit juice if she's a bit constipated.

Food wise, she's a great eater (and she has the thighs to prove it!!) She eats all veg and any meat and loves fruit and just the odd chocolate button. She loves puddings of course and I'm convinced she would eat absolutely anything if you put custard on it (a bit like her dad!!).

She has mainly our food now but I do keep a few jars of the pure fruit puddings and baby cereal.

Becky said it ....... we are all trying to be great mums and we're not all going to do the same things - wouldnt life be dull if we were all the same?

There's such a lot of stuff said about how a baby "should" be and what they should be doing. For example, Alice sleeps sometimes in our bed - so what? it's lovely having her with us and she will go from crying and being upset to peaceful sleep in a matter of minutes - as long as we all get some sleep, that's fine with us!! Load of old codswallop a lot of the dos and donts in my humble opinion!!!